ASU Forensics Team 2009-2011

2010-2011 Forensics Team Recognized as Top Performing Team!

Congratulations to the Forensics team for placing first at not one, but TWO tournaments the weekend of November 18-21, 2010. Senior Zach Mills; juniors Lexi Tippings, Martha Galewski, and Johnny Goette; sophomores Dwayne Holmes and Andie Flores; and freshmen Andrew Berens and Caitlin Cruz led the way on Friday, placing first at the Ray Dahlin Invitational speech tournament held at Grossmont College. Of the 23 events students performed Friday, a staggering number (16!) received awards. This is a tremendous showing for such a young squad.

After sweeping away the competition at Grossmont, the speech team headed north to CSU Northridge, where they continued to dominate. They were joined there by speech seniors Eric Dern, Andrew Kersh, and Jon McGinn, as well as debaters Kurtis Nielsen and Jason Sanchez. Over two days of grueling competition, the speech devils landed 38 awards out of 57 performances. The debaters placed fifth (quarterfinalists), with Kurtis landing a third place speaker award. Kurtis’s and Jason's appearance in elimination rounds marks the first time in five years that an ASU debate competitor has qualified for eliminations in two consecutive tournaments. This truly excellent rate of awards was capped off by recognition as the top performing team of the weekend.

The enormous successes of that weekend came on the heels of a first place team sweepstakes award at Azusa Pacific in October and a first place in novice debate at UNLV in October. The team has yet to travel in California this year WITHOUT placing first!

Special thanks to Nick Butler and alumna Julia Kolsrud for traveling with the students for three and half very long days of competition. Without their dedication, such awards would not be possible ASU

2009-10 Forensics Team Places 11th in the Nation

At the beginning of April, 13 students, four volunteer coaches, and the Director of Forensics from Arizona State Forensics journeyed to the University of Wisconsin, Eau-Claire. The team made this long trek to compete at the 2010 National Individual Events Tournament, hosted by the American Forensics Association. Over the course of three grueling days, these 13 students performed over 150 times in 11 different public speaking events, competing against students from 78 colleges and universities from around the country.

When all of the ballots had been tallied, ASU placed 11th in the nation, missing the top 10 by a mere two and a half points. Several students from ASU placed highly with their performances to propel the team to this excellent finish. Leading the way, Forensics Team President Eddie Gamboa, a junior at ASU, placed first in the country in Prose Interpretation, defeating 150 competitors in the event. In addition to his national championship, Gamboa was a Quarterfinalist in both Communication Analysis and Extemporaneous Speaking. As a result, he secured 12th place overall in the rankings of individual speakers. In all, five students earned awards in nine different events, including:

This was a most impressive showing for the students, reflecting their dedication to hard work and performance. The Speech Devils' performance continues a proud 125-year tradition of forensics excellence at Arizona State University. The 2010 AFA-NIET also marked the final competition for graduating seniors Andy Stone, Kristie Rohwedder, and Thomas Ochoa. They were excellent competitors and superior leaders on the team for the past four years, and the team will miss them greatly. We expect great things from the eight students who will return for the 2010-2011 season. Go Sun Devils!